Breaking the curse, farewell to Alex Morgan, and a preview of Bay FC

Hello Courage Country!

We did it! We smashed our away game / West Coast curse. It happened! And in serious style!

In addition to our 4-1 victory, we have two big pieces of league news to share (you, uh, likely know about a major retirement already). Plus, we’ll look ahead at our Friday night NWSL after dark matchup against Bay FC, moved to 7p ET.

Let’s do this!

Recap: Courage v. San Diego Wave

It’s worth taking a moment to lift up the biggest news of this match: legend Alex Morgan retired, playing her final match against the Courage. Morgan played about 15 minutes at the start of the match (marketed as a symbolic 13’ for #13). At a break in play, she handed off the captain’s band and removed her cleats for the final time. Plenty has been written this week about her accomplishments; a friend passed along Luis Paez-Pumar’s piece in Defector for one excellent example. But I wanted to acknowledge the occasion, her accomplishments on and off the field, and her well-earned flowers. You will be missed, AM13.

Beyond that, the Courage managed to ruin the occasion with a commanding 4-1 victory. The goals were spread throughout the match, and came from four different players.

It kicked off fast. The Courage earned a corner kick three minutes into the match, and defender Malia Berkely nailed a beautiful shot to our usual target, forward Haley Hopkins, for a header into the net.

Shortly after that, Alex Morgan took a penalty kick following a foul by team captain Denise O’Sullivan. But keeper Casey Murphy made an impressive save. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to savor that for long. Two minutes later, San Diego defender Kennedy Wesley equalized the score with another header from a corner kick, her first goal this season.

For a moment it looked like we were going to be in for another away game slog. But just eight minutes later, Berkely kicked another corner that was headed into the goal by defender Feli Rauch … her first goal in the NWSL.

Statistically, set pieces aren’t as high in terms of goal scoring opportunities as you might think. Seeing three in a row was an incredible treat for soccer fans.

The Courage looked fairly dominant after that. When they could work the ball through San Diego’s midfield, they were picking apart a talented defense. At 44’, Berkely had a beautiful pass to Bianca St-Georges. It’s hard to tell from the angle below, but BSG hit an impressive gap between the keeper and the nearside post.

After the half, BSG was making another run at the goal when keeper Kailen Sheridan tried to head her off; they ended up colliding. Even though Naomi Girma was rushing to cover for the Wave, the play was ruled a denial of goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO), and a red card issued to Sheridan after a VAR review.

After that, the Courage just needed to contain and kill time. As Katie notes on our podcast this week, we were willing to cede some possession time, as San Diego was having trouble figuring out paths forward once they were down a player.

It’s worth mentioning O’Sullivan took a strange knock at one point, and it seemed likely she’d leave the field. But after some medical attention she managed to finish the match.

Near the end, Olivia Wingate had a great connection in stoppage time to Meredith Speck, who scored the final goal.

All that considering Cortnee Vine sat this match out as an untapped sub, Narumi Miura was out with a leg injury, and Kerolin Nicoli still hasn’t returned to NWSL play.

Coach Sean Nahas told me on a recent press call that once teams facing issues with road victories figure out a way to win, the mental block often melts away. Let’s hope this bodes well for the remainder of the season … and maybe in post as well.

Standout stats

Look ahead: Courage v. Bay FC

At long last, we face expansion side Bay FC. They’ve come roaring into the league this season, currently sitting 7th on the table, above the playoff line.

They also bring with them a lot of faces familiar to Courage fans, including forward Tess Boade, keeper Katelyn Rowland and defender Kiki Pickett. On defense, they’ve added Caprice Dydasco, Arsenal’s Jen Beattie, and most recently, Abby Dahlkemper.

And up front? Joining Tess Boade is Rachel Kundananji and Asisat Oshoala.

On the Courage side, if we can field a healthy squad, we have one of the most balanced teams in the NWSL, as showcased by four different players scoring goals last week. That included subs, which brings up my next point: we are carrying a lot of depth into this match, which may pay dividends late into the game.

In honor of Star Wars night:

Courage news and updates

• The Courage wrote a brief profile on Weatherholt in honor of 10,000 career minutes played.

• Victoria Pickett is the 2024 nominee for the Lauren Holiday impact award, for her work with the Wake County chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

• The Japan and U.S. U-20 national teams advanced out of the World Cup group stage, which means Manaka Matsukubo and Riley Jackson continue to play for their respective sides. Matsukubo started 2 of the 3 games for Japan, and Jackson started all three of the U.S. games. Best of luck! The U.S. faces Mexico today at 9 p.m. ET and Japan faces Nigeria Thursday, also at 9 p.m.

Around the league and beyond

• Jeff Kassouf at ESPN dropped a banger this week: anonymous interviews with each GM in the NWSL, asking their thoughts on multiple critical issues. There are a few interesting insights, including mixed feelings on which team is “best to do business with,” where the Courage had both champions and detractors.

• He published a separate piece on a specific question about the effects of reforms initiated after the league’s highly publicized investigations into multiple abuse cases, which included the former Courage head coach.

• It’s hard to say enough about Alex Morgan’s legacy. Below is her video announcement, to share her own words. And a few more pieces:

  • Ryan Bushnell at Yahoo! Sports writes about her allyship work, on top of her amazing performance on the field.

  • The Athletic’s Meg Linehan took up her camera to mark the occasion and wrote a career summary (subscription required).

  • And finally, here’s Sandra Herrera at CBS also summarizing Morgan’s legacy.

That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: [email protected].

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